If you haven’t made the switch to LED light bulbs yet, now is the time. That’s because LED lights offer many compelling benefits. For starters, they last much longer than the incandescent bulbs. Additionally, they consume considerably less energy than the latter for producing the same amount of light. Which means replacing energy-guzzling incandescent bulbs with LED light bulbs can help you save on your electricity bill big time. LED lights are also good for the environment, helping you reduce your carbon footprint.
What’s more, if you want to build a smart home, LED technology opens the door to many useful, interesting, and innovating features. This includes smart LED light bulbs that change colors and that can be dimmed and powered on or off wirelessly, using a smartphone or a voice assistant. Besides, in many places incandescent bulbs have already been or will soon be phased out.
In short, embracing the LED technology is a smart move, any way you look at it.
However, a flood of new LED light bulbs, although gives more options to users, can make picking the right bulbs more confusing than before. But worry not, we have got you covered.
In this post, we will share six simple strategies for selecting LED light bulbs that are perfect for your home. So, let’s dive right in.
Tips For Buying LED
Choose the Brightness
With most LED bulbs, you’ll find the labeling stating equivalent incandescent bulb wattage, like “40-watt equivalent.” Such a labeling strategy makes things a whole lot simpler. That’s because if you need more light, you can simply pick a higher number for wattage equivalent. The opposite, as you may guess, also is true.
For your reference, a typical 60-watt equivalent LED light bulb emits roughly 800 lumens, which measures how much light you are getting from a bulb. The higher the lumens reading is, the brighter a light source will be and vice-versa. All the same, lumens come in handy when comparing bulbs, but it is not the only factor that you should consider.
Where you install a light bulb can also make a world of difference to how bright a room is. Also, at times, using a combination of low-lumen and high-lumen bulbs produce better results. For example, for an airy, spacious living room, you may want to consider putting low-lumen bulbs in your chandelier to ensure glare is kept to bare minimum and higher-lumen bulbs in your ceiling down lights to make sure the room is sufficiently lit.
Pick the Colour Temperature
When shopping for LED light bulbs, you are bound to come across a term called “colour temperature”. In layman terms, it is a way to describe the light appearance emitted by a light source. Colour temperature—sometimes also referred as “color appearance” — is measured in degrees Kelvin on a scale from 1,000 to 10,000.
So, does colour temperature really matters?
The answer is “YES.” It affects how cool or warm we perceive the lighting to be. Lower colour temperatures means the light will be warmer, while higher colour temperatures gives out cooler light. Reddish colours (e.g. a candle flame) are example of warm lights. On the other hand, bluish colour lights (e.g. moonlight) are regarded as cooler lights.
You should keep the following two things in mind to pick the right colour temperatures for your home:
- The colours of the space
- The time of day you will be using the lighting the most
If you have wood furnishings, natural warm timbers, and stained flooring, warm LED light bulbs (2,700 Kelvin) will work better for you. By contrast, homes with light-coloured furnishings and a crispier white colour palette look better with cool and bright LED light bulbs (3,000 to 4,000 Kelvin).
Get the facts right
Decoding the lighting facts label present on LED light bulbs is nobody’s idea of fun, but understanding then can help you make a smarter choice. For example, most LED light bulbs have colour rendering index (CRI) mentioned on their labels. Measured on a scale of 0 to 100, it measures the ability of a light source to show object colours naturally or realistically. A higher number shows a higher ability, which is exactly what you want in your LED light bulbs.
Experts recommend opting for LED light bulbs with a CRI rating of 90 and above, as these bulbs emit high-quality and most-balanced light. At LiquidLEDs, most of our bulbs have a CRI 90+ and hence are perfect for your home.
Use Your Eyes
Here’s the thing: Your home and its decor and ambience is unique, so are your eyes. In other words, personal tastes vary from one person to the next. Most LED online shops offer at least 30 calendar days to return an item (though, we do much better, offering a 60-day return period!) from the date you received shipment, which is a sufficiently long period to try out a product.
So, when you open the packaging, first do a trial run. Check if the bulb is lighting the space sufficiently or if it has an irritating buzzing sound. If you are less than hundred percent satisfied, return the product and try something else.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is a good colour rendering index (CRI)?
Typically, light sources having a CRI of 90 or above are regarded as excellent. The general rule of thumb is, the higher the color rendering index score, the better the light quality.
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What colour temperature should a living room should be?
Depending on the amount of natural light, you should consider very warm white LED light bulbs (2,700 degrees Kelvin) and warm white LED Light bulbs (3,000 degrees Kelvin) for your living room.
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What is better lumens or watts?
Energy efficiency in lighting sources is denoted in lumens per watt. The greater this number is, the less energy an LED light bulb will use.